Foldable unit plastic card holder



Oct. 23, 1956 F. D. NILES FOLDABLE UNIT PLASTIC CARD HOLDER Filed July9, 1955 Bnnentor FAY D- N l LES (Ittorneg United States PatenttOFOLDABLE UNIT PLASTIC CARD HOLDER Fay D. Niles, St. Paul, Minn.,assignor to Brown & Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of MinnesotaApplication July 9, 1953, Serial No. 367,010

5 Claims. (Cl. 150-39) This invention relates to a plastic card holderwhich is adapted to be formed from flexible plastic such as polyethyleneor other similar material like flexible Vinylite wherein the materialmay be translucent or transparent, and which material is adapted to beheat sealed or otherwise secured at spaced intervals to form pockets.The pockets formed in the foldable plastic sheet are adapted to formseparate compartments for identification cards, lodge cards, driverslicense cards, Social Security cards and membership cards.

It is a feature to provide a card holder with a series of separatepockets which ordinarily are of uniform size and adapted to hold thevarious cards hereinbefore enumerated.

' It is also a feature to provide a card holder which may be folded intoa small compact state with the cards held in the respective pockets andwith one or more cards held in each pocket. The cards may be placed sothat they are back to back and thus, the cards may be clearly legiblefor identification when the card holder is open or unfolded. It will beapparent, however, that even when the unit .card holder is folded, thecards held in the pockets on the outside of the fold will be visiblewithout unfolding the card holding unit.

A feature of the invention resides in providing a series of compartmentsin a flexible sheet by heat sealing transversely the sheet when the sameis folded over onto itself or attaching the sheet on a series oftransverse lines by any suitable means to form the individual pocketsfrom one end to the other of the card holding unit.

It is a primary feature to provide an open end for each card pocketwherein one wall of the pocket is longer than the adjacent wall at theopening of the pocket. This construction facilitates the easy insertionof a card into the respective pocket. It is also apparent that by havingone wall of the pocket longer than the other adjacent wall which formsthe pocket permits the card to be removed from the pocket by engagingthe slightly protruding end of the card, when the card is large enough.However, when the card is smaller and enters beyond the opening of thepocket, a finger may be more easily inserted into the pocket by reasonof the longer side wall so that a card may be removed. This permits theeasy separation of the walls of the pockets at the opening thereof.

These features together with other details and primary objects includingthe method of making said foldable card holding unit will be moreclearly and fully set forth throughout the specification and claims.

It is a further object in the method of making said foldable card holderto form the same from tubing made of flexible transparent or translucentplastic. This method includes slitting or cutting, longitudinally, theplastic tubing at offset or overlapping points on either side thereof.This method forms the sides of the card holder with one longitudinaledge closed and the other longitudinal edge being spaced apart toprovide openings for receiving cards in the several pockets which areformed by transversely sealing the walls together at parallel intervalsin accordance with the desired predetermined size for each pocket formedin the holder.

In'the drawings forming part of the specification:

Figure 'l'illustrates a perspective view of a portion of the cardholding unit showing the easy manner in which a card may be inserted orremoved from one of the pockets.

Figure 2 is a section through a portion of the card holding unit, partthereof being broken away.

Figure '3 is a perspective view of the card holding unit in' partiallyfolded form.

Figure 4 is an end view of the card holding unit shown diagrammaticallyby a single .line, illustrating the manner in which the card holdingunit may be folded into a flat state, either when the cards are insertedinto the respective pockets or whenthe unit is empty.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the flat plastic sheetshowing the same scored longitudinally to one side of the center of thesheet and indicating the manner in which the sheet can be folded over toform the individual pockets of the unit with one edge of the opening ofthe'pockets short of the other edge thereof.

Figure 6'is a perspective view of :a portion of a flat tubing withoffset longitudinal cuts so that two card holders can be made therefrom.

The drawings illustrate the card holder unit A formed of flexibleplastic such as polyethylene, Vinylite or other similar plastic materialwhich may be heat sealed at predetermined points to form individual cardpockets or may be otherwise attached along transverse lines so as toprovide 'aseries of individual card holding pockets.

' p The unit A is formed with any number of card holding pockets10,.11'1and 12, illustrated in Figure 1. In Figure 3, I have illustratedthe card holding unit A formed with the pockets, 10, 11, '12, 13 and 14.Thus, in Figure 3,

which'is .a.perspectiv'e' view. of .the unit A in partially foldedposition, the fi ve card holding pockets 10, 14, incl.

provide the unit A with a predetermined number of card holding pocketseach individually providing a compartment'for business cards, lodgecards, identification cards,

form individual card receiving pockets.

The sheet 9 of plastic material which is adapted to form my card holdingunit is normally flat as illustrated in-Figuie 5. The method of formingthe unit A may be carried out by longitudinally scoring the sheet 9along the line 18 which extends from end to end of the sheet, and thenby the next step, the sheet 9 is folded over onto itself along the foldline 18 with the longitudinal outer edge 19 of the sheet beingpositioned spaced from the longitudinal edge 20. In this manner, theedge 20 of each pocket 10, 11, 12 etc. is positioned outwardly of theedge 19 of each of the respective pockets.

A longitudinal sectional potrion of the unit A illustnated in Figure 2illustrates the transverse sealing line 17 which seals the walls of thepockets together transversely of the whole card holding unit. The wallsof the respective pockets 10, 11, 12, etc. normally lie virtually flatagainst each other. The identification, lodge, or drivers license card21 illustrated in Figure 1 is adapted to be inserted in the respectivepocket. Figure 1 the card 21 being inserted in the pocket 11 of the unitA.

It will be apparent that in view of the fact that the respective edges19 and 20 at the opening of each of the pockets having been spaced apartby the formation of my card holding unit A, in acboi'd pfi with mymethod, provides an easymeans for the 2 1 to enter the respective pocketor for the user of the card holder to insert his finger into therespective patter into which cards are to be placed or from which theyare to be removed.

Therefore, it will be apparent that my method of torming a card holdingunit with a series of card holding pockets consists in folding a flatsheet of flexible plastic material, transparent or translucent, in amanner s'o as to provide one longitudinal edge spaced short 'of theother longitudinal edge, then transversely sealing, adhering or securingvirtually integrally along transverse lines of the folded sheet to formindividual pockets and sealing together integrally the outer extremitiesof the card holding unit along either end thereof, thereby forming aunit with a series of individual card holding pockets which are adaptedto receive one or more cards normally carried for identificationpurposes into the respective pockets ofthe unit. V v I j 7 My cardholder unit with the series of pockets is easily folded into a compactstate and may be carried in a billfold or in ones pocket to convenientlyholda series of cards which may be quickly displayed from either side ofthe unit by unfolding the same.

My card holding unit may also be made from a flat tubular member such as22 (shown in Figure 6) which is cut longitudinally on each side thereofas at 23 and 24 thereby forming two elongated half portions 25 and eachof which forms a card holdingunit when sealed transversely asparticularly illustrated in Figure 1.

While I have described the principles and characteristics of my cardholding unit and set forth the method by which the same may be formed,the same is only illustrative and it should be understood that theinvention may be carried out by other means and applied to other usesthan those set forth within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of forming a card receiving unit consisting in folding arectangular flexible plastie sheet onto itself, providing a closedlongitudinal edge along the fold line, disposing the oppositelongitudinal free edges with one of said edges spaced short of the otherfree edge, then heat sealing the walls of the unit along paralleltransverse lines, and sealing the top and bottom edges of the unit,thereby forming a series of individual card receiving pockets parallellydisposed in the unit.

2. The method of forming a card receiving unit consisting inlongitudinally cutting plastic tubing to form parallel longitudinaledges on one side of the unit spaced apart, then transversely sealingthe side walls together at panallel'intervals and at the extreme endsthereby forming individual card pockets with a projecting end portion atthe opening of each pocket which projects beyond the adjacentlongitudinal open edge of the card pocket.

3. The method of forming a flexible foldable multiple card holding unitfrom thin plastic tubing consisting in longitudinally slitting the sidesof the tubing to provide side walls, spacing one of said wallsmarginally shorter than the other side wall; then transversely scalingthe side walls of the slit tubing at parallel intervals and at theextreme ends thereby forming individual card receiving pockets havingone open side with a projecting edge on one side of the opening for easyinsertion of a card into any of the card receiving pockets.

4. The method of forming a flexible foldable card holder unit consistingin forming a longitudinally folded member of flat thin plastic materialwtih one longitudinal free edge spaced short of the other longitudinalfree edge thereby forming opposed side walls with an extended edgeportion on one of the same, then transversely sealing the opposed sidewalls at parallel intervals and at the extreme ends thereof to form aseries of individual card receiving pockets with an extended edgeportion for easy insertion or removal of cards into or from the pockets.

5. A flexible card holding unit formed from a single rectangular sheetof flexible plastic heat scalable material of transparent or translucentnature, said sheet being folded on a longitudinal line offset from thecentral longitudinal line of the sheet to form two adjacent walls ofmaterial with the free longitudinal edges of the walls spaced apartmarginally, heat sealing means adhering said walls at the extremetransverse ends thereof as well as along spaced transversely parallelnarrow lines between said transverse ends of said walls, whereby to forma series of rectangular card receiving pockets closed at one end andopen at the opposite end, the spacing apart at the longitudinal edges ofthe two walls at said opposite end providing easy access into each ofsaid pockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS715,162 Schwartz Dec. 2, 1902 2,431,472 Fistell Nov. 25, 1947 2,444,685Waters July 6, 1948 2,522,346 Carson et al. Sept. 12, 1950 2,634,777Berger Apr. 14, 1953 2,647,071 Schadc July 28, 1953 2,718,911 SalomonSept. 27, 1955 2,732,874 Carstensen Ian. 31, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS107,463 Great Britain July 5, 1917 206,205 Switzerland Oct. 16, 1939

